Jeanette followed him with her blessing, deciding that there would be no further opportunity for an intimate conversation between Via and herself. They must go home at once. Under the present circumstances her father would not desire them to be out alone.
CHAPTER XVI
FAVORING WINDS
Via was ill for a few days after their luncheon in the canyon and Jeanette felt the family attitude unfavorable.
No one uttered a reproach, so perhaps the idea was an imaginary one. Certainly Via had proposed the trip herself and no one had opposed her. However, finding that Via did not require her presence as a nurse and actually seemed to prefer her stepmother or Lina, Jeanette felt no special compunction at remaining away.
There was nothing serious the matter. Via had only taken cold, but because she was frail special attention was paid her small ailments.
So, after a few moments, conversation each morning and an affectionate inquiry, Jeanette gladly hurried off to the big house and her new friends.
She did not desire to be alone with Via again for some time. She had no thought that Via was definitely aware of her own failure to play fair. What she feared and resented was her younger sister's strange faculty for appreciating the atmosphere in which human beings lived. Oftentimes she guessed their thoughts and moods before they were fully conscious of them themselves.
Moreover, life at the big house was certainly more entertaining and worth while at present than staying at home with one's own family or sharing in their amusements.
The day following the one spent with her younger sister in the depth of the ravine, Margery Barret and Jeanette managed to arrange a long-desired ride together, with no one accompanying them.